“I smell smoke. Let’s go. NOW!”
I yelled these words to my fiancé, Ben, on Friday after the fire alarm went off in our apartment (yet again). We are accustomed to alarms going off due to some computer glitch or other error. On Friday, the usual announcement that this was a false alarm never came, but we waited in our apartment nonetheless. Annoyed by the repetitive beeping noise, I opened our apartment door to see if our neighbors were leaving their apartments. When I looked into the hall, I saw nobody, and I smelled smoke. Out the door we went to the stairwell. Of course, I thought to myself in a slight panic, everyone else had left the building, and we are the only ones left in the burning structure. I immediately started becoming anxious, and as we made our way down the 14 floors, the smell of smoke grew stronger and we saw more people heading down toward the exit. At that point, my only concern was getting outside with our dog, Lila, who was trembling in my arms. As soon as we got outside, my heart was pounding so loudly that all I thought to do was run, and I called my mom despite the late-night hour so she could share in my panic (which she did, of course). Minutes later, our building was surrounded by fire trucks and passersby, watching in awe at what was happening. Hours went by before we gained any knowledge of what had happened; we went to a nearby hotel and waited. The next morning, we found out there had been an electrical fire and we would have to wait for the fire marshals to deem our building safe to re-enter.
We took nothing but our bodies, our phones, and our dog. We had no IDs or cash, but we felt relieved nonetheless. We had been so unprepared for an emergency, yet, when the moment came, we took nothing of material value – nothing that I would have listed if asked hypothetically what I would grab from a burning building. My response to such a question would not have been “nothing,” yet nothing was exactly what I took.
Now, three days later, I am back in my apartment, seeing it with new eyes. There is so much stuff in here, things I’ve held on to “just in case,” things to help me feel a sense of security. Yet, it is all just worthless stuff. I let it go without even thinking on Friday, so why when there is no emergency do I cling to this clutter? What makes these things so important when my heart isn’t racing? Nothing. We focus so much of our time and energy on deciding what objects to get, cleaning our stuff and keeping a careful inventory of what we have. Why? Although I’m not sure the answer to this question, I had been yearning to return to my space, surrounded by my stuff. I love and need some of it, but certainly not all of it. Now, I feel ready to part with a great majority of the objects that surround me. I would rather focus my time on quality rather than quantity, which seems to be an obvious choice, but it isn’t the norm. I’m ready to part with the concept of “more is better” and begin to edit my life and the stuff that occupies it.
I am ready to cleanse my life of excess and begin a new and more spacious page, bright with possibility! But, how does one start this process?
(image: lizzy janssen found via decor8)
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been cleaning up papers & non-fitting summer clothes today, but after reading your post I am struck by the “bigger” things that remain and are just taking up space. The bookcases full of books I’ll never read again. Why am I keeping them? To show someone how smart I think I am? The boxes of memorabilia, notes and cards from friends. Do I keep them so that I remember I am loved? Your post will help me to think twice about the things I am keeping for “someday”, and think about today. Thanks for the added push! I’m glad you are back in your space and safe.
.-= Jeanne´s last blog ..Inspiration =-.
I love that insight, Jeanne, asking “why do I need __?” it’s such an easy and quick filter for those items that seem to pile up but not get used or appreciated — and can be applied to anything. And I have to add that I hold on to such similar items: books, notes and cards, magazine tear sheets, printed blog posts and articles, craft projects that I started over a year ago (and the list goes on!).
So glad to hear you, Ben, and Lila are okay ♥ and thanks for sharing your thoughts throughout the occurrence. As far as decluttering, here’s two good posts to give you some inspiration:
http://zenhabits.net/simple-wasteless/
http://zenhabits.net/clean-slate/
good luck!
what great resources, duff – leo always curates the best posts on decluttering and general simplifying. these are on my must read list now!
Wow, so glad you’re all okay. You’ve had quite the epiphany by the sounds of it and what has come to light sounds worthy, meaningful and life-changing. I hope you do cleanse and begin the process. It’s not easy. Try making time to think about what matters most and move slowly from there, one day, one drawer, one piece of stuff at a time towards cleaning out your life. Best of luck, Carolyn.
.-= Katie´s last blog ..How to Embrace First Day Jitters While Fending Off Your Inner Worry Wart =-.
Wow! I am so glad that you are all okay, that’s pretty scary.
It’s hard to let certain things go, they just have that special meaning but we have to remember at the end of the day they are just materialistic; the true meaning of that said object we adore – should be something embedded in our memory so no matter what we will always remember
So true! We only took our phones and lila!!
So glad you and your two loves are safe and sound. What a scary thing to go through. Emergencies like that make us re-evaluate our lives, don’t they?
My husband and I have had several discussions around the topic of misguided priorities and how driven our society is by material things. When we moved about a year ago, we realized how much we had accumulated in two short years after a cross-country move. We had started with only clothes and beloved books. Where had all this “stuff” come from? Since then, I find myself asking the question “Do I really NEED this?” for every potential purchase. The answer is usually “no”. I think that in addition to my beloved husband and my pup, Mina, I would love to escape a fire with my little bag of old family photographs and perhaps my portable hard drive containing all my creative work. These are not essential, however, and I would be grateful to start fresh with my sweet loves, happy to be safe and healthy – finally free as gypsies!
Thank you for this thoughtful and honest post, Carolyn. You are fortunate to have this awakening and I hope more of your readers take time to consider what is really important in this short life.
I loved how you described your panic. It’s such an interesting question — even more interesting was how you evaluated your belongings after the scare. Dog and husband are definitely most important!
.-= Ashley´s last blog ..Phyiotherapy =-.
I so very much enjoyed reading this – even though I felt bad about the incident and yet glad that your belongings, however renewed they may be in your eyes, are safe and sound! I honestly do not know what I would take. I’d have to think about it and well, the irony is, there is no time to think when the situation is upon us!
So funny. I’m surrounded right this minute by sixty-four boxes of stuff that I’m about to ship back to England as we move next week.
And I thought I didn’t really have much stuff.
Hmmm.
I think that living with *nothing* is possible, but would make modern life pretty hard.
There certainly is benefit in getting rid of things that aren’t current. I’m always amazed at how much I can get rid of in the very first pass – like, without a second thought.
So much stuff comes in the door, and an equal amount doesn’t leave, so it does accumulate.
A day ago I would have been giving you smug advice, but right now, eeee.
:)
(Clear Your Clutter by Karen Kingston was the first book written on the subject. Probably still the most motivational, if you’re not averse to a tiny bit of woo-woo. She was my teacher for a long time.)
.-= Andrew Lightheart´s last blog ..I got nothing but I like you =-.
How to start…well, where do you want to land at?
The problem with Kingston’s “clear your clutter” and similar books on this subject – apart from the holier-than-thou attitude – is that they are shortselling the reader, implying that clearing one’s clutter is all there is to do and voilà, everything else falls into place. Speaking from personal experience and work with many clients: that’s simply not true.
A more interesting question would be: “If your apartment were free of stuff – what would you be doing differently compared to what you do now?”
And you gave a great answer to that one: “I would rather focus my time on quality rather than quantity, which seems to be an obvious choice, but it isn’t the norm.”
Clutter clearing towards quality time – now that’s inspiring!
Glad the three of you are well. I worked very hard to “buy” all my “stuff.” I can’t seem to part with it for fear of never having the money to replace it. Stupid… At this point, it controls me & my home is out of contol. Whew, feels good to admit that on paper!!
Today I will take back my life (repeat this 10 times to me self)
Thanks, Kali
Here on the gulf coast, we often have to think about this issue, but in advance as it comes to evacuations for hurricanes, etc. My parents have a “hurricane box” which is just a big plastic bin of the things they’d most like to save if the worst case scenario ever did happen.
I think it’s an interesting statement that after 62 years on earth and 37 years of marriage the things that are important to them in their home all fit into this plastic box. Kinda makes you wonder what all of the other stuff is for!
Phew! So glad you’re okay!!
I’ve been on a clutter clearing mission ever since moving into a teeny house last year. My advice for getting started: just get started. Whenever you go to put something away, ask yourself if you really need it or if you could donate it so that someone else might experience it (my main things to donate: clothing, books, and kitchen supplies we don’t use).
Baby steps, but keep the mindset of clearing out all the time and you might be surprised at how quickly you can reduce your stuff!
.-= tiffany´s last blog ..more passion! =-.
I hear your pain I recently had a gas explosion in my neighborhood and all our window blew out. Having fire and glass rain down on you in the middle of the night makes you think about things you have and love, like you I grabbed my my phone, and my dog and got out as soon as I could. I also grabed a flash drive of my art work.
I have to say everything in my home I love, since I just moved to my condo I went thru everything I owned and really thought do I need this anymore, does it bring me joy to have it, would I really miss it if it wasn’t around anymore? If I answered yes to all those questions then I kept it.
It is good to edit ones life because things are just things and you will feel more love and happiness when you are surrounded by only things that bring those feelings out in you.
.-= Teri´s last blog ..Prints I am working on! =-.
There is nothing nothing nothing in this world that can’t be replaced except our loved ones. And while you have always heard me say that material things can always be replacerd I don’t think you ever understood the real meaning until now. What happened to you on Friday night made you think in an instant what it was that you cherieshed more than enything in the world…and you knew. Everything else has a place in our life but is not our life. I’m so grateful you, Ben and Lila are safe. Now prpepare an emergency kit with cash, id and a change of clothes!!!!